Rams Journal: Biruta shows his mettle against LSU

Saturday

Jan 4, 2014 at 8:48 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Rams have seen some glimpses of the Gilvydas Biruta they know is in their locker room, but the player who starred against LSU’s major-league frontcourt Saturday is the one they love.Biruta,...

Kevin McNamara Journal Sports Writer kevinmcnamara33

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Rams have seen some glimpses of the Gilvydas Biruta they know is in their locker room, but the player who starred against LSU’s major-league frontcourt Saturday is the one they love.

Biruta, the transfer from Rutgers, had two double-doubles earlier in the season but too many other games where he struggled with foul troubles or even a lack of confidence. That frustration evaporated against the Tigers as he rolled to season-highs with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

“I’ve listened to Coach [Dan] Hurley, who’s told me to let the game come to me and just play happy with intensity,” he said. “My teammates have helped me the whole year.”

Biruta has been dogged by foul trouble all too often in the season’s opening 14 games. On Saturday, he didn’t pick up his first foul until the 9:22 mark of the first half. He finished the half with one foul and had just three for the game.

“It’s been a problem all year and I’ve stayed focused on it,” Biruta said. “This game I had to do it. I had to play, with the size of their guys.”

LSU boasts one of the most impressive freshmen in the country in 6-foot-8 Jordan Mickey (21 points, 4 rebounds) and 6-9 sophomore Johnny O’Bryant (11 points, 3 rebounds). Biruta outplayed both of them.

“He was locked in,” Hurley said. “Sometimes players who sit out feel this enormous expectation from themselves and outside, but the theme the last few days for him was to just relax and have fun. Just run around and be yourself.”

Hurley has shuffled his starting lineup in each of the last two games, with Biruta starting at center in place of Ifeanyi Onyekaba. That allowed Hassan Martin to get into the starting five but also may have locked Biruta into his more natural position at times.

“His versatility was big,” Hurley said. “To go get 14 rebounds against that front line, he was great around the basket. He hit two-for-two from the 3-point line, too. He’s a talented player.”

Tigers have a history

While football will always be first and foremost in the eyes of LSU’s athletic administration and fandom, the basketball program doesn’t get short-changed very much.

LSU wants to win in hoops and has done its fair share of winning over the years. The Tigers have advanced to the Final Four three times (1981, 1986, 2006) in the last 35 years and annually battle with Kentucky and Florida for some of the elite recruits in the South. Coach Johnny Jones, a former Tiger player, has a few big-time recruits in junior big man O’Bryant, from Mississippi and freshman forwards Jarrell Martin and Mickey. Martin, the 11th-rated recruit in the country, according to ESPN.com, is a native of Baton Rouge.

Those players have a lot to live up to. First of all they play in the Maravich Assembly Center, which is named after the greatest scorer in the history of college basketball. From 1968-70, Pistol Pete lit it up like no one ever has before or since for LSU. In three seasons, he amassed 3,667 career points for an average of 44.4 per game. Both numbers are NCAA records.

The LSU players practice in a 58,000-square-foot facility that sits next to the arena. In front is a giant statue of its greatest modern-day player, Shaquille O’Neal.

Reischel steps up

After once thinking he may have to miss some time after taking a few stitches in his left thumb, Jarelle Reischel saw time against both Brown and LSU and helped the Rams grab two important road victories.

Reischel struggled in only four minutes against Brown, but he chipped in with 13 minutes and hit two important first-half jumpers, one for a 3-pointer, against LSU. Two other reserves (T.J. Buchanan and Onyekaba) came through with important minutes, especially on the defensive end of the floor.